Metal-reinforced roofing.



H. R. WARDELL.

METAL REINFORCED ROOFING.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 10, 1913.

Patented May 12, 19M- w :geviventoz' asphalt layers at one or the also a small open space left between the rolls HENRY R. WARDELL,

or NEW YORK. N. 11:

ASSIGNOR TO K. \V. JOHNS-MANVILLE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

METAL-REINFORCED ROOFING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 12, 1914.

Application filed March 10, 1913. Serial No. 753.417.

To all whom it may} concern Be it known that I, HEN RY R. VARDELL, a citizen of the United States of America. residing at New York city, borough of Manhattan, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Metal-Reinforced Roofing, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to roofing and siding and comprises an improved built-up sheet which is waterproof and which, especially when corrugated, is self-supporting and can be applied directly to the purlins or other exterior timbers of a building without the use of supporting sheathing such as is necessary when ordinary prepared roofing, shingles or tiles are employed.

My invention consists of an improvement on the metal reinforced roofing sheet disclosed in a prior U. S. Patent No. 1,015,919, granted to me January 30th, 1912, and notonly results in a better product, but also facilitates the process of manufacturing such product. The roofing of said prior patentis manufactured commercially" on the machine shown in U. S. patent to -W. H. Rankin, No. 302,938, dated August 5, 1884. Thin sheets of steel of from No. 20 to No. 28 gage in thickness, 32 inches wide and from 8 to 12 feetlong, are feel through the Rankin machine and between the rolls thereof, interleaved with the webs of asbestos or other felt or paper, shown in said Rankin patent. It is, however, extremely difficultin said operation to insure the accurate and exact registration of the metal sheets and the sheets of fibrous material, unless they are all made of a width exactly equaling the length of the working faces of the rolls of the machine. But. when this is done, it is diflicult to operate the machine with metal sheets of this width. as the slightest variation or inequality of width, or any variation from ac curate alinement in feeding, causes such metal sheets to stick between the cheek pieces placed at. each end of the rolls, and stops the operation of the machine. On the other hand, if any of the sheets are made narrower than the face of the rolls, the different sheets will not always register, thus leaving portions of the metal sheets covered only by other edge. and As there is then unprotected by any fabric.

near one or both ends of the rolls, a portion of the 21 Plllllt leaks through these spaces. My invention overcomes these difficulties and results in a rooting sheet in which the asphalt layers adjacent to the metal sheet, and the metal sheets between. are all fully covered and protected by layers of asbestos or other felt, and which can be made on the machine of the Rankin patent without liability of stoppage by sheets sticking in the machine, and without loss of asphalt by leakage. This I .accomplish by running a narrow ribbon of the fibrous fabric along each side edge of the metal sheet. and infol'ding said edge. While I may use a thin asbestos felt or paper in carrying out my invention. sheets and ribbons of other fibrous material which are of stronger fiber are preferable, and l find that the material out of which ordinary adhesive tape is made gives the best results, as it is tough, flexible and highly absorbent.

The best construction of sheet at known to me as embodying my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of two built-up sheets embodying my invent ion as they lea ve the machine, and before they are cut apart and corrugated. Fig. 2 is a cross section of one sheet, as B, after corrugation. Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of a sheet before. corrugation, with portions of various layers removed, and Fig. 4 is a de-. tail, exaggerated cross section taken near one edge of such a sheet.

Throughout the drawings like reference characters indicate like parts.

A and B represent two consecutive sheets as they come from the machine connected by a portion 1, of the asbestos webs. The sheets so connected are separated by cutting the webs 1 at one or more points, as near to the ends of the metal sheets as possible. Where the adjacent ends of metal sheets come close together, one cut, as along the broken line 2, 2, will suffice. After the sheets A, B, etc. are thus separated they are run through corrugating rolls so as to produce corrugations in them which preferably run lengthwise of the sheets, as indicated in the cross section of sheet B, shown in Fig. 2.

In the simplest form of the invention there are two sheets of fibrous material, 3 and 4, preferably asbestos felt, preferably saturated with asphaltum, between which is present layers of asphalt 6. 6, as shown in Fig. 4.

A round each side edge of the metal sheets is folded a ribbon 7 of fibrous material, preferably saturated with asphalt. The edges of these ribbons interleave with the asbestos sheets 3, 4, and metal sheet 5, and are oemented thereto by films 8, 8, of asphalt, which pass through the perforations 1 2 in the metal sheet 5, and form an integral body of asphalt.

ribbon 7,.forming an. extra protection for the edge of metal sheet 5, and 'ie bight of each ribbon, which is apt to be somewhat loose. is crushed up between the rolls and the cheek piece at thatend of the rolls into approximately something like the shape 10, shown in greatly exaggerated detail in Fig. 4, for purposes of illustration. If one as bestos sheet, as 3, is out of register with the metal sheet, as shown in Fig. 4, the ribbon, and trapped asphalt 9, cover the portion of the surface of the metal plate which might otherwise be exposed. The portion 10 of the ribbon also more or less completely fills any space that otherwise might exist between the rolls, the cheek piece and the sheets 3, 4 and 5, in the process of manufacture in the Rankin machine, and so prevents the leakage of asphalt when the sheets 3,44imd5 are slightly narrower than the faces of the rolls.

lVhile the foregoing describes the simplest form of my invention, I )refer 20 add untreated sheets 11, 11, of as stos eltto the upper surfaces of the compound sheets, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 3. This prevents the absorption of the suns rays which would occur if the upper black saturated sheet were exposed. Untreated.sheets of ordinary roofing paper could be applied to one or both surfaces of the structure indi cated in Fig. 4, and such exterior sheets, free from asphalt, whether made of asbestos orother material might be saturated with oil or any other suitable waterproofing ma- -terial.

The main benefit resulting from the use of asbestos sheets comes from the fact that being of mineral composition, they will not decay. Very little benefit results from the fireproof quality, as a degree of heat Sulliy i cient to ignite ordinary roofing felt would A relatively considerable body-of asphalt X 9 is apt to be trapped in'fthe big'ht of each i melt the asphalt long before ignition occurred and cause the rotectin sheets to slide off of the metal s eets. hile I pmfor to use asphalt, other cementitious material might be substituted for it.

Having, therefore, described my inventiou, I claim:

1. A. corrugated builtup sheet for roofing and siding comprisin' in combination two sheets of asbestos fe t saturated with asphalt, a thin perforated reinforcing sheet of steel between said saturated asbestofi sheets and one exterior unsaturated sheet of asbestos felt, together with layers of asphalt between all adjacent sheets, and ribbons of textile fabric saturated with asphalt'infold ing the side edges of the metal sheet and interleaving between it and the adjacent sheet of asbestos felt.

2. A built-up sheet for roofin' and siding comprising the combination 0 a plurality of sheets of fibrous material, layers of ee mentitious material and a thin sheet of metal interposed between said fibrous sheets, and folded ribbons of fibrous material extending along each side edge of the metal sheet an extending between it and the adjacent sheets of fibrous material, and cemented to both said fibrous and metal sheets.

' HENRY R. W'ARDELL.

\Vitnesses A. J. ARIEL,

GEORGE A. NIooL, Jr. 

